A composer from Leighton Buzzard has been recognised nationally by being voted into the Classic FM 2013 Hall of Fame.
It was announced on Good Friday that Classic FM voters had voted Philip Stopford’s composition Lully Lulla Lullay number 248 of 300.
The contemporary composer said: “I was thrilled to be nominated, but very surprised.
“I thought it would be people like Mozart and Beethoven, but then there’s little old Philip from Leighton Buzzard.
“I was very pleased and honoured that people had bothered to go on the website to vote, so to get placed was great.”
The lullaby tells the story of a mother’s anguish during the Massacre of the Innocents where King Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two to be killed.
The Pulfords Lower School student went onto study at Westminster Abbey, but since his compositions have been performed in the Carnegie Hall, New York, and in American Cathedrals including New York, Chicago and St Louis and at the Consecration of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia.
Although Philip now lives in Belfast and working as a fulltime composer and choral conductor, his parents Geoff and Christine Stopford of Carina Drive, still reside in his hometown where his mum is the Church Warden of All Saints Parish Church.
His Festival Te Deum for Choir and Orchestra was written for the Leighton Buzzard Festival Singers and Philip conducted them in a performance in Cologne Cathedral of his Benedicite which they had commissioned for the Choir’s 2011 European Tour.
Performances of Philip’s music are on Youtube with half a million hits worldwide.
He added: “It is like voting for X Factor really isn’t it? I feel honoured that people are supporting me in my career. My mum and dad are very proud.”